Russia’s deputy foreign minister, Grigory Karasin, and the Special Representative for Relations with Russia, Zurab Abashidze, met for talks on 14 December in Geneva. These have been the first direct official talks between…

Over the past few months, Stefan Fule, the European Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy, has expressed a positive approach in his statements to offering prospective EU membership to the countries located in…

The first meeting of the Parliament of Georgia took place at its new site in Kutaisi on 21 October. A clear majority of seats, 85 out of 150, are held by the Georgian Dream coalition (GD) centred around the billionaire Bidzina…

On 8 October Bidzina Ivanishvili, the leader of Georgian Dream (GD), which won the parliamentary elections in Georgia, and who is also its candidate for prime minister, presented the partial composition of the future government.…

1 October saw parliamentary elections in Georgia, which were unexpectedly won by the opposition Georgian Dream (GD) coalition, centred around Bidzina Ivanishvili. The election results have not been challenged by any party, which…

On 18 September the Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs revealed cases of prisoners being treated brutally in the Gldani jail in Tbilisi and announced that arrests had been made and that an investigation was being launched with regard…

On 31 August, Hungary handed over to Azerbaijan the Azeri officer who had been sentenced to life imprisonment (with no right to a reprieve for thirty years) for killing an Armenian soldier with an axe in Budapest in 2004 during a course…

On 4 July, the Georgian Parliament, dominated by the president’s United National Movement party, passed a vote of confidence in the new cabinet under the former the head of the Interior Ministry, Vano Merabishvili. Most of the ministers…

The organisation of the Eurovision Song Contest, the final of which was held on 26 May in Baku, was of huge significance for national prestige to the government in Baku. This was the first event in Azerbaijan to attract such global…

On 22 May, at the third reading, the Georgian parliament passed an amendment to the constitution allowing EU citizens to stand in elections if they have lived in Georgia for at least five years. These amendments have been introduced…